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Guest blog 5 by Tandem Studios: Live streaming works in real time or anytime

Live stream, web cast, streaming on the internet, call it what you like but sending audio and video live over the internet is a fast growing part of communications and marketing for any business, city, regional council or Government organisation.

We also recently streamed the swearing in ceremony of the new Wellington City Council live (webcast) from the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. For this meeting we used the new live stream function on YouTube. Here’s the recording of the Wellington City Council’s Web Cast on You Tube.

The great thing about live streaming is that it gives people (ratepayers, customers, shareholders, staff) the ability to view content in real time or anytime via a video library that is created with the edited footage from the live stream.

The video libraries created from the live stream are where most people will view the content. This is called ‘time shifted viewing’, meaning I can’t always watch the stream live but with the library I can watch at a time and place that suits me.

The website we run for Parliament InTheHouse is a good case in point as this now has more than 20,000 videos that have collectively been viewed more than a million times during the past four years.

The libraries also mean the viewer can view just the part of the stream that’s important to them instead of having to sit through the entire stream.

Media are also interested in live streaming content e.g. a business could stream its AGM through its own website and embed the stream into business and media websites as and when they want the content.

The Dominion Post, for example, embedded the Wellington City Council live stream into their Stuff website WCC on Dom Post. For the first full meeting of the newly-elected Christchurch City Council, The Press placed the stream into their website CCC on The Press.

Content is king and with live streaming you have valuable niche content. Getting as many people to find the stream as you can provides a win for your clients and for any media who take the stream as this provides them with free content that is of interest to their web audience.

Webcast, live streaming or web streaming is an opportunity to share your stories and communicate and market to a worldwide audience, or even a small audience of interested parties. It has never been easier or more cost-effective.